POA campaign launched by Dr Foster

A campaign is set to be launched to help give a clear picture of the care patients receive before and after they receive hospital treatment.

Dr Foster Intelligence is to launch the campaign for ‘present on admission’ (POA) flags on 28 November with the latest Hospital Guide.

It would see hospitals using a new clinical code to signify when a condition or diagnosis such as a pressure sore, deep vein thrombosis or heart disease, was present on admission and that data would form part of the national dataset and be uploaded to the Secondary Uses Service.

Various organisations such as the Royal College of Nursing, the Care Quality Commission, the Professional Association of Clinical Coders and seven NHS trusts have backed the plan which would provide a clearer picture of where patients are being harmed within hospitals.

POA flags are routinely used in America, Canada and Australia and coding already exists in this country when a condition is hospital acquired.

Andrew Kliman, senior communications manager at Dr Foster Intelligence, said: “The appetite is not for collecting data but for hospitals to have a clearer picture of what is happening within their care.”

The Professional Association of Clinical Coders said POA flags would help coders analyse data for clinicians and support new indicators measuring quality and outcomes.

The NHS Information Centre is already considering POA flags with the subject already having been raised by health professionals.

Dr Foster Intelligence said that it will be raising the campaign with health minister Simon Burns.